Best way to learn openings. . suggestions please

I have lot of books, lot of videos, lot of Fritz trainer. In any of the book or videos i didn't find "how to learn openings".

They are only having contents\ not the "Way to learn those content"

I take a chess coach online. He again started giving me content not the way how i can learn those by myself.

At first when i started learning opening, i will open any book with fancy title and i will open a chessbase software. Then i will start loading all those moves in the database, thinking that i am learning all those moves and openings.

But i cannot go further because i will lose patience soon and i will leave that at that stage and will start doing other works.

After somedays i will again start the same process and i will lose patience again.

If someone around here can give me some suggestion of how to learn openings, i will be very greatful to you.

I am not expecting any fast track way. I want a method which i should do daily and also i should know that am improving daily. Its should not be just walk over through the book, i have to remember what i am doing. Atleast give some advice on what i am doing wrong.

Please help this poor guy who has lot of will to learn and improve chess.

if u want to know about chess opening and chess skill plz download a free lucas chess game from fischer free chess software.it will teach u chess skill very frindly manner and show u the difference between your move and best move.again you can learn opening by watching chess game of gm from website chessgame.com,thank u

First you have to choose an opening repertoire. Preferably 3 openings as White and 3 openings as Black. There are several opening training software programs on the internet. Probably the 2 best are Chess Wizard(Bookup) and Chessbase. It will take you 2-3 years to build your opening tree with the help of the computer and the software suggested above.

Also you will have to purchase books or cds that explain in words what the particular opening is about. In other words, the ideas, plans, strategies of the particular opening.

You will have to analyze your games in order to determine your progress in knowing the correct book moves of the opening that the game followed. And, of course where you went wrong in the game, the book moves you commited to memory from having played the same moves in practice with your Bookup software, but forgot during the game.

1 main thing i got from your replies is that, it will take years to build good opening reportoire for myself.

So i need more patience.

My doubt is how to learn openings. For example,

1.Select this book or software.

2.Choose particular opening from the selected software or book.

3.Go through the moves carefully.

Thats it you are done for the day. Repeat this process, so that you will be good in opening by the end of some years.

Am expecting some advice like this.

Thanks

Select these books- 1. "My System", by Aaron Nimzowitch

2. "Pawn Power In Chess", by Hans Kmoch

Both above books can be purchased at Amazon.com

Choose particular opening from the selected book- I can tell you that depends on your playing style, positional or tactical. My opening repertoire consists of the following:

1.As White 3 openings - The English Opening(1.c4), The King's Indian Attack, and The Reti Opening

2. As Black 3 openings - In response to 1.e4 from White the Sicilian Defense (1...c5), In response to 1.d4 from White the King's Indian Defense, In response to any move from White The Caro-Kann (1...c6) if I am looking for a draw as Black in a tournament when I need it.

Once you have selected the openings for your opening repertoire you will have to buy books that explain in words the plans, ideas and strategies in those openings. Let me know which openings you select and I will post what I believe are the best books to select.

Select this software- Chess Openings Wizard(Bookup) and Chessbase games database. The instructions on how to use Bookup and Chessbase will guide you on how to learn the openings you select.

In summary, you will find that the stronger players will sometimes use transpositions to take you out of the opening you know into another opening where because they know that other opening they also know that by transposing in a certain position will put the color you are playing at a disadvantage. So you will find as you develop that you will have to know both transposition junctures in your selected openings and the opening(s) they transpose to as well as the openings of your repertoire.

You need to play games with the openings you choose. Over the board games, not online where you can follow a book or software. Then go over the games you play to find the correct sequence for the lines you choose. You can get better in the openings, middlegame, endgame and tactics.

To understand the opening you have to understand it's result , the middle game.If you don't know the number "2" you are not going to understand why "1+1 equals 2".And to understand middle game you have to understand it's result , the endgame.That is why endgame is so damn important and that is why opening is so damn unimportant for beginners.When you will be able to evaluate a position correctly ,when you will be able to plan correctly , when you will be able to play accurately at least the simple endgames then you will be ready to understand the meaning behind 3.Bb5 in Ruy Lopez and you will be ready to understand why a position is equal , slightly better or slightly worst.Until then Ruy Lopez or Sicilian are completely useless for you.

Right now what you need is simple openings that will improve your understanding in chess and will make learning complicated openings easier.You can't learn openings because you see uncomprehensible lines leading to uncomprehensible positions.Even if you do learn them nothing will happen , no improvement at all.

You need openings that you can play with almost no theory knowledge and will help you understand some fundamental opening ideas and plans.Once you know well these you can move on to more complicated openings.

You learn an opening by understanding it and you can understand it by understanding the positions it produce.

Figure out what type of middlegame you CAN play well or can LEARN how to play well...NOT what kind you WANT to play well. We would all like to play like Morphy, Tal, or Nezhmetdinov, but this is unrealistic.

I would break it down into these categories:

Slow/Fast [The most important category!]

Kingside/Queenside/Neutral [Attack the king? Win material? Play across the whole board?]

Degree of Risk [Is "kill or be killed" acceptable to you or no?]

Statics vs. Dynamics [Do you want things to hinge on piece play or on structural considerations?]

What openings/defenses are you willing to allow or are determined to avoid?

Second, make one database for each opening or line. Find high level games in that line and add them to your database. If the games are not annotated, annotate them yourself, checking with Houdini afterwards.

I use Chessbase too but I presume any database program has openings keys for sorting games, as well as other filters. Let me add to Andre_Harding's comments.

It is useful when forming a database for learning an opening to ensure the quality of the games. The easiest way to do this is to also filter for rating by setting a minimum for both players. You will want to start with 50-100 games per opening (don't worry, you go over them over a period of time) and so for a popular opening like the Nadjorf Sicilian you may have to set the rating high, like 2500 or higher depending on the time span you are looking at (last ten years recommended), to get to the desired number. For the Budapest or Albin, you might only have to specify over 2200, say.

Then go over the games slow enough to see what is happening - no blitz speed - but not trying any deep analysis. You just want to notice the similar features, the recurring ideas and patterns and tactics which will happen. Maybe 15 minutes a game, so four in an hour, make it part of your regimen. Then use what you have seen in your own games, review and compare.

This is not a crash course, it requires an effort over a period of time, but as you progress through it you will have learned something you won't forget, as opposed to cramming memorized variations you will forget easily.

And you want to play over the games you've filtered as they come - don't skip the losses for the side you want to play, or the draws. That way you see what works and what fails for both sides.

Also, play out each to the end. In this way, you are also seeing all the middlegame strategies and even the typical endgames that arise, so you won't be left wondering what to do when the opening ends.

To understand the opening you have to understand it's result , the middle game.If you don't know the number "2" you are not going to understand why "1+1 equals 2".And to understand middle game you have to understand it's result , the endgame.That is why endgame is so damn important and that is why opening is so damn unimportant for beginners.When you will be able to evaluate a position correctly ,when you will be able to plan correctly , when you will be able to play accurately at least the simple endgames then you will be ready to understand the meaning behind 3.Bb5 in Ruy Lopez and you will be ready to understand why a position is equal , slightly better or slightly worst.Until then Ruy Lopez or Sicilian are completely useless for you.

Right now what you need is simple openings that will improve your understanding in chess and will make learning complicated openings easier.You can't learn openings because you see uncomprehensible lines leading to uncomprehensible positions.Even if you do learn them nothing will happen , no improvement at all.

You need openings that you can play with almost no theory knowledgeand will help you understand some fundamental opening ideas and plans.Once you know well these you can move on to more complicated openings.

You learn an opening by understanding it and you can understand it by understanding the positions it produce.

p.s. Message me if you need more information.

Michael-G is correct with regards to what he wrote highlighted in red.

What he did not add and probably knows is the gist of it and the most important part. You need to build 5 visualization pattern memory banks, and they need to built in roughly the following order:

In the actual learning process there will be alot of overlap regarding the build up of these 5 memory banks in your mind.

In addition you will have to learn alot more about theory. Not opening theory. More basic than opening theory are the following concepts:

What is Chess? Answer: Chess is Siege Warfare in the form of a board game.

1. Siege Warfare (Expertly explained by "My System" and "Pawn Power In Chess) in any form involves 3 strategies (restrain, blockade, executethe enemy) Michael-G writes: "...then you will be ready to understand the meaning behind 3.Bb5 in RuyLopez..."Almost all books I have ever read, explain that the move is designed to win Black's pawn at e5. The truth is that 3.Bb5 is really designed to very temporarily restrainBlack's queenside pawns, especially Black's pawn at d7 (this is a pawn that is critical to Black's ability to fight for control of the center) The reason he cannot play 3...d6 or 3...d5 is because White can then play 4.BxN(c6) to which Black would have to respond with 4...bxB(c6), saddling Black with a loose double pawn complex (pawns at c7,c6, d6 or d5) which is definitely a weakness that White can exploit. A general guideline for exploiting Black's loose doubled pawn complex is described as follows: A limp in a sitting man is undetectable. But, when that man begins to walk the limp is patently obvious. White must make moves that force or strongly encourage Black to advance the pawns that comprise his loose doubled pawn complex. That is just the beginning of the process in White's exploitation of Black's lose doubled pawn complex weakness. The rest of the process is very clearly explained in the book, "My System", and of course the process involves restrain, blockade and execute, the enemy.

2. Two Chess Opening Theories (Classical and Hypermodern)

a. Classical- Control the center (d4,e4,d5,e5) by occupying it with your pawns and pieces.

b. Hypermodern- Control the center with the power of your pawns and pieces. With this method you do not create targets in the center for your opponent to attack. (The book, "My System" is all about Hypermodern Chess Opening Theory and its application in practice in actual games.)

3. Pawn Structure - is the terrain (hills, mountains, and valleys ) of the battlefield on the chess board. All plans of attack against the enemy position must conform to the pawn structure. "Pawn Power In Chess", is an encyclopaedia of pawn structures and how to handle them from the White and Black side. In addition there is detailed a breakdown of concepts, principles and ideas that comprise the pawn structure and how to use them.

Openings are not unimportant for beginners. Memorizing lists of moves without understanding those moves is the problem.

If a beginner studies the opening PROPERLY (which implies studying the middlegames and possibly endgames that arise from their openings, and improves positional evaluation) it will be a huge help. Not to mention it will also improve tactics.

The problem, as I see it, is that most openings books do not teach the opening properly and the reader gets more confused and doesn't know what they are doing (believe me, I have been there!). That is why opening study gets a bad rap.

Although you can't get around memorizing moves, it is always better to first familiarize yourself with the general themes of the opening: the usual pawn structures, piece placements, and plans. Then once you know the basic ideas, you should learn the correct lines and hopefully, then, know why they are played.